As part of their recent crackdown on bad bike behavior, SFPD once again butt heads with bike commuters, this time at Fourth and King Street. The savvy cyclists at Streetsblog reported cops around the Caltrain station were issuing tickets for bikers riding on the sidewalk last week, but ignoring the fleet of taxicabs illegally parked in bike lanes around the station. Naturally, the selective enforcement left riders with a bad taste in their water bottles. Injury was added to insult today as Caltrain riders arrived at the station to find a fleet of Oracle-sponsored pedicabs hogging up sidewalk real estate around Fourth and Townsend. more ›

Larry Ellison's Oracle Racing team has already crashed one of those AC45's we had our eye on this morning. The catamaran tipped over while skippers Russel Coutts and James Spithill tried to one-up each other in the lead-up to a practice run on the Bay this afternoon. According to the Examiner, winds of 20-28 mph around the Golden Gate Bridge and Angel Island caused the National Weather Service to issue a small craft advisory warning this afternoon, but judging by how excited America's Cup Event CEO Craig Thompson has been getting about the crash-and-burn excitement of catamaran racing, we wouldn't be surprised if Ellison had his team flip the boat just to make things more exciting. Below, a suspiciously soundtracked video of the accident, which we have helpfully juxtaposed with a scene from The Thomas Crown Affair (in which a wealthy playboy capsizes his catamaran, "just to see the splash.") more ›

People will have a chance to check out the fancy catamaran owned by Oracle Racing that they're testing for the America's Cup race in 2013. This won't be the exact boat they'll be using in the race, but rather it's a test-design that was built in New Zealand earlier this year. The AC45 wing-sailed catamaran is a 45-foot version being tested out to give the team a sense of what they'll ultimately be racing with: the AC72, which will be a 72-footer. more ›

As a brief update to Monday's story, Team Ellison (legal team that is, not yacht racing team or Oracle softball team) has released Larry's response to news reports that he would be buying up the former home of San Francisco socialite Dodie Rosekrans. As recounted on Curbed today, Larry says, "No one has ever offered to sell me the house next-door for $40 million or any other price. If someone does offer to sell me the house next-door for $40 million or an amount anywhere near $40 million I will not buy it." more ›

Oracle CEO and billionaire boating enthusiast Larry Ellison, seen here eating a hot dog, has overcome some NIMBY issues in just about the richest way possible. As CurbedSF reports this morning, Ellison has been battling his backyard neighbors over the height of some view-obstructing Redwoods since 2007 and even offered to buy their $6.9 million home on Vallejo Street for as much as $27 million. Now with the America's Cup fast approaching and lots of high-altitude entertaining to be done, Ellison has agreed to buy the home immediately next door to for a grandiose $40 million. more ›

The Oracle Racing USA-14, Larry Ellison's America's Cup-winning yacht, arrived in San Francisco at Pier 80 on Monday. "The device to catch the wind is called a wing, and is so efficient it can allow the boat to sail 2.5 times the wind speed," notes photographer Alan Grinberg. "It's 'wing' is so tall (223 feet) that the boat could not sail under the Golden Gate Bridge without modification. The next generation America's Cup boats is called the AC72, a somewhat smaller version of the hi-tech sailing machine, but this one will be a catamaran, using only 2 hulls instead of the 3 shown here." more ›

We've already celebrated the fact that our fair city was selected to host the 2013 America's Cup. (Lots of love to Lite Gov Newsom for successfully wooing Larry Ellison and his boating buddies.) Naturally, the next step is for San Francisco to find something else about the event to be properly outraged about. So, to that end, here is the Examiner's list of waterfront businesses that could be evicted by Mr. Ellison's regatta. more ›

Promising to bring an estimated "$1.4 billion in economic benefits and 8,000 jobs to a city facing a $379 million deficit," San Francisco celebrated the America's Cup pick on Wednesday. The Chronicle breathlessly notes: "Members of the America's Cup Event Authority joined city leaders and billionaire software mogul Larry Ellison at City Hall on Wednesday to celebrate the Dec. 31 announcement that San Francisco will host the high-profile regatta in 2013." more ›

In his SFGate column today, Chuck Nevius calls out boating enthusiast Larry Ellison and the BMW Oracle sailing team for making such a stink about which piers on the Eastern waterfront they'll get if they pick San Francisco for the America's Cup. more ›

So that big yacht race, we've been following for the past couple of months is looking like a sure thing now, right? Maybe! more ›

"It's a billionaire's regatta. Why are we going out to raise $270 million for Larry fucking Ellison?" asked Supervisor Chris Daly at a recent press conference. What's he talking about? This: San Francisco's plan to raise $270 million so that Larry Ellison and his BMW Oracle racing team will select S.F. as the next city to host the America's Cup. And Daly is none too thrilled, saying that the city is "using the people's money so that a billionaire can have his yacht race." more ›

The Chron has word that the city plans on raising loads of money in order to host a fancy sailing race. Check it: "San Francisco officials have promised to raise at least $270 million from businesses and other sponsors if the city is picked to host the next America's Cup sailing race, according to a draft agreement obtained by The Chronicle." Refreshed-face billionaire Larry Ellison won last year, so now he gets to "decide the location, timing and type of boats for the next regatta." [Chron] more ›

Citing his incomparable "relevant experience" at HP, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison just hired Ex-HP CEO Mark Hurd as the software company's new co-president. Hurd, if you recall, resigned in August amid allegations of sexual harassment. Ellison was very vocal in support of Hurd, slamming the fallout as nothing more than "cowardly corporate political correctness." more ›

Former front runner Larry Ellison is out. According to CBS 5, "The Golden State Warriors have been sold for an NBA record $450 million to a group led by Mandalay Entertainment CEO Peter Guber and Joe Lacob, a minority owner of the Boston Celtics." more ›

Here at SFist, we don't like to name call -- mostly. But sometimes there are certain stories that we read with (a lot of) choice swear words on our tongue. So pardon us while we play this story as straight as we can; we'll leave the incendiary comments to you. more ›

Forbes annual list of billionaires around the world came out today. Jealous? And for the first time in 14 years Warren Buffett (at $62 billion) snatched the number one spot from Bill Gates (who came in at a dismal $58 billion.) This post was created using Explorer, not Firefox, in condolence. more ›

"I'll pop a cap in your ass," four cowardly teens whined just minutes before 18-year-old Michael Price, Jr. of Oakland was shot inside the Metreon last night after some sort of argument. He later died at San Francisco General Hospital at around 7:30 p.m. A 15-year-old tyke was arrested a few minutes later in connection with Price's murder. Investigators do not believe the incident was gang related, adding that "it was just one of... more ›

This 4-bedroom, 5-bathroom house helped to land 94123 on Forbes’ Most Expensive Zip Codes list - #55 to be exact. At 2500 Lyon Street, you can live right down the street from Gordon Getty and Larry Ellison. How fun! The property lies at the entrance to the Lyon Street steps and boasts “abundant with rich and opulent architectural detailing and superb Bay views.” more ›

After weeks of playing coy, Danny Glover finally addressed the question about running for Mayor and said nyet to the whole idea. In a statement released to the press, Danny said "I have not considered, nor am I entertaining, the idea of running for mayor." That sounds pretty definitive, actually, not the usual kind of wishy-washy statement candidates make when they kind of sort of want to run but don't want to commit just yet. The Examiner's kind of funny but mainly not "San Francisco's Next Mayor?" bit had Glover listed at 450-1 odds anyways. That's slightly better odds than Wolfgang Puck but not nearly as good odds as Clint Eastwood or Larry Ellison. more ›

Thanks to the kindness of a tipster (remember folks, keep those cards and letters coming), we get word of a great site that combines two of everyone's favorite kind of porn: real estate and celebrities. The site is called the Real Estalker and even though it's been up and running for a year or so, they finally opened up their San Francisco branch. It's like SF Curbed except snarkier and only about people you know. more ›

to the success of their Oracle OpenWorld convention that they entirely shut down Howard Street between Third and Fourth to traffic, because they need the space for their caterers. You're going to make caterers make canapes on the street, Larry Ellison? more ›

DOJ declines to appeal Oracle takeover bid. more ›

SFist is shocked to see that we failed for the 31st year in a row to make the Forbes list of the top 400 richest people in the world. Much like those US News and World Report stickers that show up on local editions of the America's Top Colleges magazines ("NORTHERN CALIFORNIA! Berkeley, Stanford, and Mills are represented in here!"), someone has thoughtfully compiled a compendium of California-based information for your perusal. more ›